Had a good 9 days or so in southern Japan. Back at work. It is a good distraction. Radiation levels (still quite manageably low) are lower here than where I live. Ironically though, radioactive iodine levels are quite a bit higher (but still not in the danger range we are told). I don't drink the water much anyway.

Yesterdays 7.4 earthquake woke me up at 11:30 pm. I immediately switched on the news b/c I was worried about the reactors in Fukushima. They got a bigger shaking than Tokyo, but late into the next day, they appear to be okay.

Just found a great summary update of each of the reactors at Daiichi. May read very dryly, but I can't believe how much I hang on this stuff:

"Here is the current state of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.

Reactor No. 1

Overheating has caused a partial meltdown of the reactor core. TEPCO believes some 70 percent of the reactor’s 400 fuel rods have been damaged.

Workers have injected pure water, switching from sea water used last month, into the pressure vessel via a pump, but the cooling system has not been restored yet.

With hydrogen and oxygen likely to have accumulated inside the reactor vessel, workers began pumping inert nitrogen gas early Thursday to prevent a possible hydrogen blast.

Workers had begun pumping out radioactive water from the basement of the adjacent turbine building, but they found more in a trench outside the turbine building, about 56 meters from the ocean.

Reactor No. 2

The reactor is also believed to have suffered a partial meltdown, with about 30 percent of 548 fuel rods likely damaged.

The torus—the reactor’s suppression pool which controls the pressure inside the reactor container—has likely been damaged.

Spent fuel rods in the pool were fully exposed at one stage, but TEPCO has said the rods are now submerged in water and in a stable condition.

A puddle of highly contaminated water was found in the basement of the turbine building and outside in a trench, where a radiation reading of over 1,000 millisieverts per hour was measured.

Workers have injected pure water containing boric acid into the pressure vessel, after dumping sea water as an emergency means.

They found a crack in a seaside concrete pit near this reactor, which was leaking highly radioactive water.

After several failed attempts to seal the crack, using cement, and even newspapers and sawdust, workers stopped the leak on Wednesday morning after injecting sodium silicate, a chemical agent known as “water glass,” to solidify soil near the pit.

Reactor No. 3

A hydrogen explosion badly damaged this reactor’s outer building, and a partial meltdown is also suspected. TEPCO said about 25 percent of the reactor’s 548 fuel rods may be damaged.

Three workers were exposed to high levels of radiation last month when they stepped in contaminated water at the basement of the turbine building. They were found to have suffered no major injury.

Workers had used sea water to cool both the reactor and spent fuel pool, but they have now changed to fresh water.

Reactor No. 4

This reactor was undergoing maintenance when the quake struck. There were no rods in the reactor core.

Fires broke out in the building several days after the quake. The fires were put out with water, which made its way into the spent fuel pool.

Firefighters doused the spent fuel pool using a concrete pumping vehicle, usually used in the construction industry. TEPCO has said the reactor’s spent fuel pool is now submerged in water.

Contaminated water was found in the basement of the turbine building, but workers have yet to remove it.

Reactor Nos. 5 and 6

The two reactors were undergoing maintenance when the quake hit, but their fuel rods were already placed in the cores as they were prepared for operation.

Workers have created three holes in each of the two reactor buildings, aiming to vent hydrogen out and prevent an explosion.

They have restarted the cooling systems of the two reactors and the spent fuel pools, which have remained stable."

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